A Different Point of View
by Amanthya
Summary: From wbf. The TB series never explains what Ashleigh's greatest rival, Brad, is thinking, or what his motivation is. Here we see his fierce competitive drive stems not only from his desire to win, but his frustration over his feelings for Ashleigh. AU.


_A/N: Rated PG for mild swearing in some chapters. Summary: The Thoroughbred Series as seen from Brad Townsend's pov. Fills in a bit of missing info about his family. A little AU: he falls for Ashleigh. Another re-post from wbf mb. I'm re-writing this fic a bit, but I've decided not to change the first chapter, b/c it's fine the way it is._

**Chapter One**

"Well, isn't it a beautiful day?" Elaine Griffen asked with a cheerfulness in her voice that her face said she obviously didn't feel. "I've made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast."

Her mother's comfort food, Ashleigh knew. She shrugged a greeting and sat down at the table. Her father was reading the newspaper as he ate and Caroline, Ashleigh's older sister by three years, breezed into the kitchen, fashionably dressed as usual.

"Man, it's just too early to be up!" she complained.

"I'm sorry, Caroline, but we have to be down to the barns early to make a good impression," Elaine said, handing her daughter--who was still grumbling about "this ungodly hour"--a plate of pancakes. "And could you go wake up Rory, Ashleigh?"

"Sure." Padding down the hall to her brother's bedroom, Ashleigh thought that if they still owned their own farm, they wouldn't need to worry about making good impressions on anybody. Then, biting her lip, she tried not to think about Edgardale, her parent's farm, and the horrible virus that had swept through it, killing five broodmares and a foal. It had cost the Griffens so much financially and emotionally to lose so many horses that they had ended up selling the farm and finding work as breeding managers here at Townsend Acres. Ashleigh felt tears welling up in her eyes when she thought about leaving the farm and her beloved horse Stardust, who had survived the epidemic, behind, and she shook her head to clear it of the bad memories.

Blinking back her tears, she opened the door to Rory's room and found him sprawled out on his bed, the blankets pushed off onto the floor. The alarm was set on snooze.

Twelve-year-old Ashleigh smiled and gently shook shook her brother's shoulder. "Time to get up."

"Hmm...? Huh? Do I have to groom Moe now?" he asked sleepily in his high seven-year-old voice.

Ashleigh's smile faded but she didn't cry. "No, Rory, we're at Townsend Acres now," she reminded him, keeping the anger and sadness out of her voice and face. It wasn't Rory's fault that they had had to sell Edgardale so there was no point in taking her feelings out on him.

Momentarily her brother looked confused, but then his expression brightened. "We get to meet the new horses now!"

"Yeah...But you'd better eat breakfast first," she said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, yeah." Rory bounded out to the kitchen and Ashleigh pushed her dark hair out of her face. She was the only one who had inherited Derek Griffen's coloring; her brother and sister looked more like fair, red-golden haired Elaine.

She sat down on the unmade bed and glanced down at the stuffed toy horse laying on the floor. It was the one Ashleigh had given her brother when he had cried over losing Moe.

Again, Ashleigh felt like sobbing with bitter grief and resentment but she was determined not to cry anymore. It wouldn't change the past, and it wouldn't bring Stardust back to her. Wiping her watery eyes with her sleeve, Ashleigh vowed never to be close to another horse again. It just hurt too much.

.  
.

Townsend Acres was beautiful, Brad knew. He knew when people came over, they would were impressed by the expansive land and glossy thoroughbreds. He knew many people envied him because he lived here and was relatively rich. But right now, Brad was sick of the place. No, not the place, the people in it. His sister Isabelle was lucky to have escaped into college and then marriage.

"Morning, Mr. Townsend," a groom called out politely. Brad barely nodded to him, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Andrew Cain, the newest and youngest groom here, to bring out Brightblade.

"Come on, Blade," he told the prancing chestnut when he was brought to Brad, "time to show your stuff." He didn't even think to thank Andrew.

Brightblade, the horse Brad was exercising today, tossed his elegant head with excitement, eager to get out on the training oval and run, and Brad permitted himself to relax a little as he trotted, then cantered the colt to warm him up. Finally it was time to gallop.

Letting his breath out, Brad gave Blade the signal, and he jumped forward into a smooth, collected gallop, pushing to go faster. His long strides ate up the ground and Brad couldn't help smiling in spite of his resolve to remain aloof and indifferent in public. He hated to open himself up, but feeling the energy of the young horse beneath him and the wind whipping at his cheeks as they flew past the half-mile marker was like a natural high. Reluctantly he slowed Blade's pace and the colt tossed his head in protest, disappointed his run was over. Brad assumed his usual unreadable expression as he headed over to the rail, Blade fighting him, wanting to run some more.

Ken Maddock, the head trainer, was thrilled to see that the horse was doing so well and said they'd try him over five furlongs tomorrow. Then he greeted someone out of Brad's line of vision.

"First day, eh?"

"Moved in this morning." A tall, dark haired man answered with a smile. "Thought I'd take my family on a tour of the farm..."

Brad quite listening as he examined the newcomers, barely catching the names of the three children. There was a little boy and two girls. One girl was slim and boyish, the other slender and curvy, probably close to his age. He was scrutinizing her as she smiled and fluffed her hair when he heard Maddock say his name, catching him off guard. The other man was introducing himself as Derek Griffen, and his wife as Elaine, the new breeding managers.

"Hi," he said shortly, hating it when he was caught unawares, and turned back to Maddock, masking his slight sense of uncertainty. "I thought we could try him from the gate tomorrow. What do you think?" he asked, feeling the younger girl studying him intensely as he listen to the trainer's reply and then took off for the barn, feeling unusually self-conscious. He wasn't sure he liked her or the obnoxiously cheerful little boy--the parents he was indifferent to--but the older girl was worth taking a second look at.

"Brad!"

Startled, Brad almost fell out of the saddle as his overdressed, socialite mother waltzed up, looking like she was going to a formal dance in a few minutes.

For a moment, he wondered what his strong-willed, horse person father, Clay Townsend, had seen in spoiled, self-centered Lalaine Reega* when he first met her. Then he pushed the thought away, feeling a little guilty. He put on a polite face and nodded. "Hello, Mother. What brings you to the barn this morning?" Away from the house where the servants are?

Lalaine smiled her I'm-scheming smile. "Brad, darling," she said as he dismounted and handed the Prince off to another groom, "I just knew you'd want to hear about the deal your father is making with Gerald Westwood. You see, we're all going out to dinner tonight with him and his lovely daughter, Melinda."

Brad understood immediately that the underlying reason his mother was telling him this was not to keep him informed of his father's business doings but to remind him to be ridiculously nice to Melinda-maybe even date her-so that it smoothed the way for Clay, who probably didn't even notice that Brad dated every girl who's father did business with him, much less whether or not it helped. But Lalaine was sneaky like that, and not below using her son to further the success of the farm. Odds-on she'd tricked Clay into marriage.

"All right, Mother," he said, suddenly feeling weary. Too weary to feel the usual seething resentment at being used this way.

Lalaine smiled at getting exactly what she wanted and sauntered off, explaining she had to get her nails and (already perfect) raven-black hair done.

Brad sighed and shook his head, heading quickly up to the house to change and next to his red Ferrari. The wind ruffled his short brown hair. He ran a hand through it and heard, "Well, it's a good thing our horses died so we could move here and you could meet more cute boys, huh?" the younger Griffen girl was saying snippily to her sister.

"Geez, Ash, sue me for being interested in dating," the older sister said defensively, looking a little guilty, and Ashleigh--the one who had been practically analyzing him earlier--suddenly sighed as if too exhausted emotionally to keep up her anger.

Frowning a little, Brad wondered what their story was as they walked to the bus stop. Shrugging to himself, he figured he had enough problems to deal with without adding theirs.

Slamming the car door shut and sliding the key into the ignition, the engine roared to life and the wheels spit gravel as he tore off out of the driveway and down the road without looking back.

.  
.

_A/N: *Reega is pronounced Reeja, pronouncing the j as you would in bonjour. I just thought that the "g" looked better than the "j" but it's not ree-gah, that sounds stupid._

_Also, Brightblade, the name of the horse Brad rides in this chapter, is a name I borrowed from a book series that I forgot the name of. I'm not stealing it, I'm just borrowing it, really!_


End file.
